‘Faith guided my hands to protect myself’: Man recalls stabbing ex-quarterback during downtown Indy incident

INDIANAPOLIS — Perry Tole was driving a cooking oil recycling collection truck on a midnight route downtown early Saturday morning because he put his music career on hold as he might make enough money to care for his sister-in-law, who was shot in the head during a convenience store robbery in 2011.

”It takes a good man to do something like that,” said longtime friend Gregg Keesling. ”Perry works in recycling because he needs the money to take care of his wife’s family. He’s that kind of guy who is very connected and committed to helping others.”

It was while he was on his route, parking his truck at a loading dock in an alley between the Westin and Marriott downtown hotels, that Tole first spotted former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez in town to call the Colts-Raiders game Sunday afternoon on Fox Sports.

Tole told police, and security video is said to confirm, that Sanchez confronted him about the location of the truck in the alley where the former pro athlete had been doing wind sprints and acting erratically. An argument ensued, witnessed by a man identified by his initials B.B. in which it appeared Sanchez and Tole were both video recording each other with their cell phones. Sanchez attempted to enter Tole’s truck cab and then pursued the 69-year-old man, who ended up on his back, wedged in by a dumpster and wooden pallets and fighting back, first with pepper spray and then a knife.

”I’m fairly positive he has never been in a fight in his entire life,” said Keesling. “He’s a very peaceful man and in this situation I think faith guided him, as he told me, ‘Faith guided my hands to protect myself.’”

Tole admitted he plunged the knife “two or three times” into Sanchez’s chest as security video later captured the image of the wounded man staggering down West Washington Street in a blood-soaked shirt to Loughmiller’s Pub & Eatery, where bartender Scott Bennett tried to staunch his bleeding with bar towels.

”Perry doesn’t fight. In fact, I think this is probably the first fight that Perry’s ever been in in his entire life,” said Keesling. “As a matter of fact, he told me that last night. He said, ‘I’m gonna go on record. I don’t fight.’”

Tole is a native of Jamaica, where he met Keesling years ago before emigrating to the United States and becoming a citizen last month.

”Perry Tole was a guitar player that I knew from Jamaica who was a player at the resort down there, came to America and began to work playing the guitar, producing music,” said Keesling. ” It’s not quite reggae. It’s a fusion of rock and roll and we call him Jamaica’s Jimi Hendrix and he plays left-handed and he’s just talented. That’s the Perry Tole that I know. I knew him in Jamaica, where we have a violent country there from time to time and Perry avoided those.”

Tole received a deep penetrating laceration to his cheek, making speech difficult.

”He’s beat up pretty bad, I think, both emotionally and physically, he needs some time,” said Keesling. ”He needs to heal. He’s hurt pretty bad. His son is getting married this weekend. I don’t think he’s going to be able to attend the wedding because of the injuries that he has.”

IMPD and the Marion County Prosecutors’ Office continue the investigation into the brawl, which left Sanchez facing a felony count of battery with serious bodily injury and three misdemeanors, including public intoxication, a charge that would likely be reliant on toxicology test results that typically take six weeks to complete.

”Anytime anyone’s admitted to the hospital there’s a number of things that are conducted as a matter of routine and a matter of procedure,” said Prosecutor Ryan Mears. “I think as you work through the process, certainly their health records are protected, and we have to go through that process of making sure that the information that we receive is obtained through the proper channels.”

IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said detectives would examine cell phone and security video, statements by Sanchez’s Fox Sports associates as to his actions before the fight and toxicology tests before completing their investigation.

”The investigators will be looking into all those things and I think the medical records are going to be extremely important for both individuals to see if another charge needs to be added but also to see if there was some sort of altered state of mind of the individuals involved in this incident,” Bailey said.

Gregg Keesling said it’s doubtful Perry Tole would even know that Mark Sanchez was a former NFL star.

”He didn’t ask for this. He didn’t ask for this to come,” Keesling said. “He’s the kind of person who would have tried to avoid it and all the indications are he was trying to avoid it, yet he was left with no other option.”

Tole’s lawyer said he is hopeful any witnesses to the activities of the men before the brawl would come forward with their accounts.